Designing a budget you can stick to doesn't have to be a painful process.

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Just like dieting, budgeting is often associated with deprivation and cutting back. However, creating and maintaining a budget doesn't have to be a painful process. "If you ... start thinking about [budgeting] as a way to concisely create a better environment for yourself using your resources, it will get that much easier," says Leslie Beck, a certified financial planner at Compass Wealth Management in Maplewood, N.J.

Aside from maintaining a positive mindset, here are eight guidelines to help you successfully build and manage a budget:

1. Keep it simple. While a budget can be a great tool for managing finances, it can quickly become overwhelming if it's overly detailed or idealistic. "There are things that you will likely sacrifice when budgeting, but it's very important to be realistic and understand your own habits," says Kristin Wong, a contributor to the financial blog Get Rich Slowly. "If I have a problem area within my budget, like eating out or shopping, instead of trying to focus on everything and being too hard on myself, I pick that one area. The hardest part of a budget is sticking to it, so the easier you can make it, the better."

2. Set a time period. Establish your budget for a time period that's long enough for you to see results. Stephen Lovell, a certified financial planner with Lovell Wealth Legacy in Walnut Creek, Calif., suggests budgeting for one year at a time. Budgeting month-to-month can accommodate everyday living expenses and bills, but a yearly budget can help you also plan for larger and more infrequent expenses, like income taxes or holiday presents. "You don't want things to slip away," Lovell says. "It's better to be approximately right than precisely wrong."

3. Build an emergency fund into your budget. An emergency fund should be an essential component of every budget. It can help you finance unexpected expenses like medical bills so you don't have to pull income from other areas. "For example, allocate just as much to your savings as your emergency fund," Wong says. "Once you have that, it's a lot easier to maintain the budget if a big expense springs up."

4. Don't worry about finding the perfect record keeping method. Just as there are many ways to create a budget, there are also many ways to keep track of it. Whether it's through an online budgeting program like Mint or Quicken or on paper, stick to whatever works best for you. "Make sure you approach it in a manner that you are comfortable with," Beck says.

5. Make sure everyone involved is on the same page. Whether your budget affects your spouse, partner or roommate, communication about the established financial plan is crucial. "If you have two people who have really disjointed approaches to money, that's really going to be a problem in the long run," Lovell says.

"You need to be aware of the other person's attitudes about money and realize that your own aren't universal. Everyone needs to be on the same page and after the same goals for the budget to be successful."

Being open with those around you about your budget can also help you create a support system while you work to get your finances on track. "Talking to friends really helped me," Wong says. "For example, even talking about it helped me when I was shopping with my mom. If I hadn't told her that I was on a strict budget, I probably would have spent more. She was there to hold me accountable."

6. Make adjustments along the way. If over time, your budget results don't match your expectations or financial needs, you may assume the plan is wrong. However, it's likely that you simply uncovered unknown problem areas. "The things that pop up will actually let you know what the real norm is, so pay attention to what it is telling you," Lovell says. "If you think, for instance, that you spend 12 percent of the family income on discretionary items, and you find after tracking for two months it's more like 28 percent, then something is off there."

7. Try adding on instead of only cutting back. Following a budget typically means making cuts in less essential areas or eliminating some costs completely. However, if reducing the amount of money going out isn't doing enough, look for ways to increase the money coming in. "Take a part-time job or sell something that is just sitting in your closet taking up space," Beck says. "People tend to think about just the one side of the equation when working to keep their budget on track, but there's another side that you can influence too, whether it's for a temporary or permanent basis."

8. Don't set yourself up for failure. Making sacrifices is part of managing expenses, but if you set restrictions too high and too soon, you will be less likely to follow your budget over the long term. "If you enjoy a latte every day, don't go from 0 to 60 in terms of cutting back. Do it gradually," Wong says. "Nobody wants to stick to a budget that cuts out everything fun in their life. If you keep failing at your budget, you are going to be discouraged and you're not going to want to do it anymore."

Mobile-network companies do everything they can to pull you in the door, with smartphone offerings that often come with no upfront cost. Even the most popular models are available at big discounts, with most providers offering large subsidies in order to lock you into two-year contracts.

Once you're locked in, though, costs for monthly data, text and voice plans can run well over $100 a month.

That's fine if you actually use everything you're paying for, but many people don't. One Illinois consumer advocacy group found that state residents wasted as much as $1.4 billion by signing up for more-inclusive plans than they actually needed. Threats of overage fees lure subscribers into paying for more than they use. But look at your actual usage and then see if a cheaper plan would serve you just as well.

Cellphone use has become nearly universal in the U.S., with a Pew Internet study finding that 91 percent of American adults have a cell phone. With plans that include unlimited or large amounts of minutes for use either locally or for long-distance calls, cellphones increasingly serve all the telephone needs people have.

In that light, paying for a landline is of limited use. The main advantage is that landline phone service often continues to work during power outages when cellphone use fails, but an average landline bill of around $30 a month is a fairly hefty price to pay for that security.

Like cellphone providers, cable companies have pushed customers into larger packages than many people want. Without a-la-carte options to pick and choose channels, many customers have to buy expensive tiered packages to get the channels they actually want.

With the rise of streaming alternatives like Netflix (NFLX) and Hulu, some former cable customers have successfully cut the cord, replacing monthly cable bills of $100 or more with much lower subscription payments. Also, look into cheaper package options that cable operators must provide. They're often not advertised, but they can be much less expensive than typical standard cable packages.

As summer heats up, cooling costs are on the rise, but one solution that covers both heating bills in winter and air-conditioning in summer is a programmable thermostat. By letting you tailor your energy use to times when you're actually at home, you can cut your total bills by 10 percent a year or more, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Energy.

One downside of programmable thermostats in the past was that they didn't handle unexpected changes in plans very well. But advances in technology make it even easier to use programmable thermostats, with some devices linked to the Internet and controllable using a smartphone. That way, if you're going to be home an hour early, you can reset your thermostat remotely in advance.

Mortgage rates have been on the rise recently, but some homeowners might still benefit from refinancing their home loans. Even with 30-year mortgages having gone up by more than a full percentage point in just a couple of months, rates of around 4.5 percent are still well below historical average levels.

Refinancing comes with upfront costs, so it's important not just to look at monthly savings but also at how long you plan to live in your home and whether you can avoid or reduce costs associated with refinancing. Given how big a part of your overall budget your mortgage payment is, though, even small percentage savings can add up to a nice boost for your finances.

Monthly bills can put a big weight on your shoulders. But by taking these simple steps and looking at other ways to trim your budget, you can go a long way toward escaping the bonds of paycheck-to-paycheck living and declaring your own financial independence from your bills.

Standard Budgeting Tip: Your bank usually has the best plan available, i.e. use your bank's pay off plan for your credit lines and avoid extra fees while remaining a good banking customer (avg. monthly personal credit interest fees run at $50) or pay down in increments of $1,000 monthly if you use your credit line as an expense budgeting tool; have the amount suggested by your financial institution deducted automatically into your savings account monthly, while adding extra savings deposits to your base emergency fund in increments of $100; start an e-fund at a major bank's high interest online savings account and transfer in an extra $10, $20 or $50 deposit.

Great article. Setting up a budget is a great way to help you ensure you are managing your money efficiently. Laying everything out like this really helps you to see where your money needs to be going and to help keep you on track!! :)www.theloanfactory.com